Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Sustainability: two CSTT contributions

Monday, February 23, 2015

Routledge has published its "Handbook of Tourism and Sustainability", edited by Hall, Gössling and Scott. Two chapters, on aviation and cruise tourism respectively, have been (co-)authored by CSTT members Paul Peeters, Rob Bongaerts and Eke Eijgelaar. The chapter on cruise tourism is a further succesfull cooperation between the CSTT and Wageningen UR researchers Machiel Lamers and Bas Amelung:

Description of the Handbook:
Sustainability remains one of the major issues in tourism today. Concerns over climate and environmental change, the fallout from the global economic and financial crisis, and the seeming failure to meeting UN Millennium development goals have only reinforced the need for more sustainable approaches to tourism, however they be defined. Given the centrality of sustainability in tourism curricula, policies, research and practice it is therefore appropriate to prepare a state of the art handbook on the relationship between tourism and sustainability.

This timely Handbook of Tourism and Sustainability is developed from specifically commissioned original contributions from recognised authors in the field, providing a systematic guide to the current state of knowledge on this area. It is interdisciplinary in coverage and international in scope through its authorship and content. The volume commences with an assessment of tourism’s global environmental, e.g. climate, emissions, energy use, biodiversity, water use, land use, and socio-economic effects, e.g. economic impacts, employment and livelihoods, culture. This then provides the context for sections outlining the main theoretical frameworks and constructs that inform tourism and sustainability, management tools and approaches, and the approaches used in different tourism and travel industry sectors. The book concludes by examining emerging and future concerns in tourism and sustainability such as peak-oil, post-carbon tourism, green economy and transition tourism.

This is essential reading for students, researches and academics interested in the possibilities of sustainable forms of tourism and tourism’s contribution to sustainable development. Its assessment of tourism’s global impact along with its overviews of sectoral and management approaches will provide a benchmark by which the sustainability of tourism will be measured for years to come.

Handbook reviews:
"In The Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Sustainable, Hall, Gössling and Scott have brought together leading scholars to create what may be the single most comprehensive resource on the concepts, debates and methodologies of sustainable tourism to date. This is a timely volume toward understanding tourism and its relationship to the increasing pressures of global environmental and social change in today's world." - Alan A. Lew, Ph.D., AICP, Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator, Department of Geography, Planning and Recreation, Northern Arizona University

"This comprehensive Handbook explores the conceptual foundations and management perspectives of sustainability in tourism. Engaging with well-argued criticism the book demonstrates the value and diversity of sustainable tourism studies. This collection is a ‘must have’ for scholars and students who want to understand the complexity and challenges of sustainable development in tourism." - Jarkko Saarinen, University of Oulu, Finland, and University of Johannesburg, South Africa